Counting pallets on high racking: equipment and safety

You cannot count a pallet on the top level without seeing it, and to see it you often have to work at height. That is where people hurry most, and where the risk is. A prepared team keeps to a simple order: safety first, speed second, and a spot that was not inspected is never written down as "counted". This article does not replace the site's own safety rules and is not a technical manual. It is only about organising the work.

Site rules first

Every site has its own rules for working at height and with warehouse equipment, its own permit system and its own responsible people. The counting team follows those rules and does not bring in a "faster" method of its own. The general order is:

• only an employee with the proper permit and training uses a lift or ladder, most often a member of the warehouse's own staff;
• protective equipment is issued as the site requires and worn in full;
• before work starts, the warehouse manager gives a short briefing: which aisles have traffic, which areas are closed, whom to tell in an emergency;
• other work stops in the aisle being counted, and the area is fenced off with a visible sign;
• any employee may stop work they think is unsafe, and no one is blamed for it.

These rules differ from site to site, so ask for them in writing before the count and brief the whole team.

Preparing before the count

Before the day, clear the aisles and check the lighting: in a dark spot a label cannot be read, and haste raises the risk. Draw up in advance a list of pallets with missing or worn labels and print a bay map for the worksheet. Book the equipment and the employee who operates it for specific hours. If trucks are received during the day, agree with the warehouse manager how to separate the counting area from traffic, or move the count to the night shift.

Start from the floor

A large share of pallets can be checked from the floor: read the pallet label or bay marking and compare it with the warehouse records. So start with the lower levels and record from the floor everything that can be read safely. For the upper levels there are two routes. If the label is clearly legible from the floor, that is enough. If not, the check is done by a suitable employee under the site's own procedure. A camera zoom sometimes helps, but never write down an illegible label by guesswork.

To see how to divide the time, take a hypothetical example. Say one aisle has 20 bays, 4 levels and 2 pallet positions on each. That makes 20 × 4 × 2 = 160 positions. Forty positions at floor level are checked from the floor, while the 120 above need equipment and careful work. The figures are made up, but the lesson is general: when three quarters of the positions sit where checking is slow, the time cannot be split evenly. Allow more time for the upper levels and book the site's staff and equipment in advance.

What to do with a spot that was not inspected

Each position gets one of three statuses: "counted", "mismatch" or "not inspected". For the last one, record the reason (equipment busy, label unreadable, aisle closed), the person responsible and the date of the repeat check. In the report such positions go on a separate list. Do not record them as zero or as matching the books: otherwise the result looks exact when in fact it is incomplete. The repeat check is usually done when the warehouse is running normally and the pallet is lowered under site rules, and its result is attached to the report.

Roles in the team

• the counter at the bottom reads the label and calls out the result;
• the operator enters the data and double-checks it with the counter;
• a warehouse employee operates the equipment according to site rules;
• the supervisor watches that safety rules are followed and stops the work if necessary.

Conclusion

On high racking, speed has to go hand in hand with safety and honesty: site rules come first, what can be read from the floor is counted from the floor, and what was not inspected is stated openly. The Inventory team counts stock in warehouses with barcode scanners and works at the agreed time, at night or on weekends if needed.